8/9/2019 December 2006 Peligram Newsletter Pelican Island Audubon Society

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P.O Box 1833, VERO BEACH, FL 32961 772-567-3520 Fax 772-567-3521 www.pelicanislandaudubon.org

Our 42nd Year Vol. 42 No. 9 December 2006

Our Mission: To preserve and protect the animals, plants,

and natural communities in Indian River County through

advocacy, education, and public awareness.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

More information on a l l these events may be found at

www.pelicanislandaudubon.org

Sun Jan 7 8:00am to 12:00pm ORCA canoe trip. Meet at

the FMEL boathouse 200 9th St. S.E. (Oslo Rd.) east of U.S.1.Reservations are required. Call 772-567-3520 to sign-up.

Mon Jan 15 7:30pm general meeting, Vero Beach Commu-nity Center, 2266 14th Ave.

Fri Jan 19 Walking tour of historic downtown Vero Beachwith Joan Edwards. Call 772-567-3520 for reservations and

directions.

The perfect giftfor theHolidays.

Reflections of Blue

Cypress by Richard &

Juanita Baker makes the

perfect gift in which to

share the natural wonders

of Blue Cypress Lake

right here in Indian River

County with someone

you love. Filled with beautiful color photographs,

evocative poetry, and the natural and man-made history

of Blue Cypress Lake,Reflections of Blue Cypress is a

book that will be treasured for years to come.

To purchase a copy online, go to

www.pelicanislandaudubon.org or visit the Society

office at 1931 14th

Avenue in Vero Beach.

VEGETARIAN POTLUCK& HOLIDAY BAZAAR!DECEMBER 11, 2006

STARTING AT 6:00 P.M.

VERO BEACHCOMMUNITY CENTER

2266 14TH AVENUEIN DOWNTOWN VERO BEACH

ENTERTAINMENT PROVIDED BY THEGIFFORD YOUTH SYMPHONY

We ask that those attending bring a vegetarian dishthat will serve eight people. All those attending

should, also, bring their own place setting. A vari-ety of beverages will be provided.

Bob Montanaro

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Pelican Island Audubon SocietyOfficers

President, Richard H. Baker1

stVice President, Lynne Larkin

2nd

Vice President, Robert AdairRecording Sec., Darlene Halliday

Cor. Sec., Deborah EckerTreasurer, Andrew Barr

DirectorsJens Tripson 09Nancy Irvin 07Susan Boyd 08

David Cox 09Robert Smith 07Joseph Carroll 08

Board

Janice Broda

Joel Day

Kevin Doty

Tina Marchese

Sue Richardson

Melissa Tripson

Paul Tritaik

Founding Member & President Emeritus Maggy BowmanOffice ManagerBob Montanaro

Pelican Island Audubon Society, Inc. is registered with the Florida Dept. of

Agriculture and Consumer Services. A copy of the official registration andfinancial information may be obtained from the Div. of Consumer Services

by calling toll-free within Florida 1-800-435-7352. Registration does notimply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the State.

SAVING THE GOPHER TORTOISEFROM LIVE ENTOMBMENT

Ilka Daniels, Outreach Coordinator of the Indian RiverHumane Society receiving a $1,051.19 check from Jens

Tripson, Richard Baker, and David Cox of PIAS at arecent meeting of the newly formed Gopher Tortoise

Coalition. Jens Tripson matched the pass the duckoffering at our November 20th meeting. Thank you Jensand PIAS members for the generous contribution to help

save gopher tortoises at the new facility on 77th StPhoto by Janet Winikoff.

eBirdby Jack Taylor

Sit down at your computer, get comfortable and Go to

www.ebird.org. Youll open an entirely new world o birding activity! This is a web site which is jointloperated by National Audubon and Cornell Lab of Orni-

thology. It couldnt be more user friendly --- Ive been

hooked for a number of years and Im far from com-

puter literate.

I mostly use it to submit observations and on occasion

read the outstanding articles found on the web page. I

started using eBird to record our monthly Golf CourseSurvey findings. In this regard it has been extremelyuseful. Before we conduct the April Survey at the In

dian River Club, Ill download our 2005 Report. Wethen have a rough idea of what species we are likely to

see in 2006. When we enter the current survey --- eBirdsends me an email copy of the report. I can then sendcopies to the concerned individuals. I was able to use

our Golf Course reports to determine that we hadnt

lost any species as a result of the 2004 hurricanes, buthad lost about a third of the individual birds. Far fromscientific but a slight bit of science, thanks to the re-ports.

Ive also been reporting the results of our field tripsthus allowing us to predict what we might expect to see

on our next trip to Belle Glade or Joe Overstreet Road. I

havent attempted to post my life list to eBird, but I dokeep a record of yard birds.

Go to www.ebird.org and see for yourself.

NEW LIBRARY BOOKSby Tina Marchese

The thoughtful, generous wishes of Maggy Bowman and

the good offices of her niece (and a past PIAS president)Donna Anderson, have resulted in a large portion of

Maggy Bowman's library being given to the PIAS li-

brary. The library committee has been processing these

books into our collection---books about birds, nature, andconservation. Some are old standbys, others are more

recent publications. Some have warm dedications from

the authors to Maggy, who over the years came to knowmany of Florida's leading birding experts.

Among the books now on our circulation shelves are:

Brett, James. THE MOUNTAIN AND THE MIGRATION.

Delacour, Jean. BIRDS OF MALAYSIA.

Dunn, Pete. THE FEATHER QUEST.Gill, Frank. ORNITHOLOGY.

Gore, Al. EARTH IN BALANCE.

Harrison, Peter. SEABIRDS: AN IDENTIFICATION GUIDE.

Kaufman, Wallace. THE BEACHES ARE MOVING.Kavanaugh, James. THE NATURE OF FLORIDA.Lentfer, Hank. ARCTIC REFUGE.

Morrin, Harold. BIRDING THE 49TH STATE.

Rickett, Harold. NEW FIELD BOOK OF AMERICAN

WILD FLOWERS.

Roberson, Don. RARE BIRDS OF THE WEST COAST OF

NORTH AMERICA.Scherman, Katharine. SPRING ON AN ARCTIC ISLAND.

Stop by the office and check out some of these or other

titles.

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Where comethand goeth our water?

Find out at theDec 6

thWorkshop.

Indian River County Commissioners and the countys

utility department are holding a belated, but much-

needed workshop, on our future water supply needs 3-5

pm on December 6th

in the county commission cham-

bers. This is a very

important workshop,

and you may be

surprised to hear from

St. Johns River Water

Management District

about the difficulty our

county will have in

providing water after

2013 from ground water or deep wells. Indian RiverCounty is in especially bad shape since it now depends

totally on deep wells and does not use surface water at

all for public drinking. Melbourne and Brevard County

are lucky to have Lake Washington and support from a

water management district that is looking out for their

interests by supplying our countys water to them.

The 2013 date resurfaced again from a September 18,

2006, action plan report by three water management dis-

tricts (St. Johns River, South Florida, and Southwest

Florida). It was initiated because these traditional deep

wells cannot meet current and future demands. Alsoactions in one district can impact water resources and

water users throughout central Florida.

Previously, there were apparently mixed signals from St.

Johns. As of last year they had indicated that our county

had a sustainable water supply plan based on drilling 6

new artesian wells at their North County Well Field.

This is surprising since Dr. David Toth, a hydrologist,

also from St. Johns, stated in a couple of reports (all the

way back to 1994!) that there would be a loss of artesian

flow and salination at current usage of artesian water by

the county. His concerns were similarly express lastyear at our general meeting.

Actually, our own county utility department must have

also been aware of our countys water problems because

St. Johns had already imposed restrictions on the use of

water for watering our lawns and many private shallow

wells were drying up or becoming unusable as salt in-

trudes. More disturbing, the South Florida Water Man-

agement District had prohibited any increases in pump-

ing from our countys south well field to protect St.

Lucie Countys water supply! The September interdis

trict action plan states, ...there is an immediate need to

develop and implement alternative water supply projects

in addition to continued aggressive conservation and

reuse of reclaimed water.

The year 2013 is tomorrow! What is the solution? De

salination of lagoon and seawater, a frequently proposed

solution, is extremely costly and has serious technica

and environmental problems where it has failed in

Tampa Bay. Our countys Soil & Water Conservation

District simply recommends storing the 50 inches of rain

we receive on average every year, which now goes into

the lagoon or to the St. John's River marsh. We need to

stop the regular flow of our canals into the Indian River

Lagoon and divert the water into storage reservoirs

Parts of the old master storm water plan should now be

dusted off, reviewed, expanded, and implemented to

save our storm water for our water supply. Storing and

using surface water from a reservoir will also be expen-

sive. This is. of course, another hidden cost for our ou

of control county growth,for which we all will have to

pay more with our taxes. The days of cheap water ar

disappearing like cheap gas.

Also the Dec 6th

workshop will provide an opportunity to

express your concern with St. Johns for trading off pub-

lic conservation lands (Berry Groves) to a private corpo-

ration, Fellsmere Joint Venture, who insist on converting

these conservation lands to agricultural lands to facilitate

a bad land deal for Indian River County. The Berry

Groves land involved in the swap is directly west of I95

and south of Fellsmere and may in fact provide an im-portant site for a future county reservoir. This land wa

on the Countys list of environmental lands to purchase

at bargain rates a few years ago, but St. Johns went

ahead and purchased them without the countys partici-

pation. Now St. Johns wants to trade public owned con

servation lands to privately owned Fellsmere Joint Ven-ture, who certainly will eventually turn it into a large

residential development. This sets a dangerous prece-

dent of selling off already public preserved lands for fu-

ture development.

If you come to the Dec 6th workshop, you might also askWhy doesnt Indian River County have a representative

on their Governing Board? Our county is home to the

headwaters of the St. Johns River and soon will need this

water for our burgeoning population. Yet, St. Johns

owns one-third of our county. This workshop will give

you an opportunity to find out and voice your concern

about our water problems. Hope to see you there.

In spite of our water problems, enjoy the Holidays

Richard Baker, President

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LOCAL CALENDAR GIRLSWhile on a kayak/yoga retreat on the Indian River La-goon back in 2005, a group of local women lamented themurky and debris- filled waters and wondered what they

could do to improve the water quality, especially the

health of the seagrass beds that nourish and shelter a va-riety of marine life. Thus, like in the 2003 movie, Cal-endar Girls, the idea of the Seagrass Awareness Calendar

was born. The women range in age from their 20s to60s and are from such diverse professions as marine

biologist to landscaper. Through the efforts of volun-

teers and sponsors, the women have published a colorful

and somewhat discrete 2007 calendar to highlight theimpact human activities have on seagrasses. All pro-

ceeds will be donated to organizations involved in re-

storing our Indian River Lagoon, St. Lucie and St.Sebastian Rivers.

The calendars are available by mail with a $20 donation

to Seagrass Awareness Calendar, P.O. Box 64417, VeroBeach, FL 32964 or at the Vero Beach Book Store for$15.00 For more information please visit

http://www.tropicalkayaktours.com/tours.htm

Pelican Island Audubon Society

P.O. Box 1833

Vero Beach, FL 32961-1833

Non-Profit Org

U.S. Postage Paid

Vero Beach, FL

Permit No. 101

BECOME A MEMBER OF THE

PELICAN ISLAND AUDUBON SOCIETY

Membership benefits include subscriptions toAudubon magazine, Florida Naturalist, and thePIAS newsletter The Peligram. Additionally,members have full borrowing privileges to thePIAS nature library and much more!

$20 one-year membership

Donation $_________________

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Check box if a MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL.

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ADDRESS:_______________________________

________________________________________

E-Mail__________________________________Please send your name and address along with acheck payable to the Pelican Island AudubonSociety to: Pelican Island Audubon Society,P.O. Box 1833, Vero Beach, FL 32961

SEAGRASS AWARENESS

This Loon in its winter plumage was photographedamidst the mass of boaters fishing the Sebastian Inlet

channel during the Thanksgiving holiday.Photo b Bob Montanaro.